Exclusive interview with Eric Simons

The South African Eric Simons who had joined the Indian coaching team during the Bangladesh series early this year, has now been appointed as India's bowling coach till the 2011 World Cup. Simons, who is currently the assistant coach for the Indian Premier League's Delhi Daredevils Team, in his first exclusive interview, shares experiences of being part of the Indian dressing room, watching Sachin Tendulkar score his historic double hundred and his expectations from his bowlers for confident show in the upcoming T20 World Cup to be played in West Indies.

An interview with Eric Simons conducted by M Vijay of Artsmith.Sports:

M Vijay (MV): You have been working with the team since Bangladesh, how has the experience been?

Eric Simons (ES): I was invited to be part of the Indian team and it has been a great experience to work with such talented bunch of cricketers. It was a challenging attack against the South Africans but the players performed well against them has been tremendous. Its been good so far! (smiles)

MV: Your next assignment is the T20 World Cup. India had a terrible show in 2009. How challenging a task is it going to be for you?

ES: We didn't perform well in the last T20 but this time we are determined. We are going to take one game at a time. There is little time between IPL and the T20 World Cup but we are confident about the team's performances.

MV: As a bowling coach how do you rate the Indian bowlers?

ES: This Indian side has a talented bunch of cricketers and obviously talented bunch of bowlers as well. Guys have incredible skills, ability to adapt to conditions, to bowl in hostile conditions, bowl on flat wickets. They need to have variations while attacking and I am enjoying working with their skills. (I am) hoping to bring in some high packaged strategies and tactics and using those skills in different conditions and departments during the match situation.

MV: Ashish Nehra has been out with injury since the beginning of IPL, what his status?

ES: Ashish has started bowling and is almost ready to be considered. But with bowling, once physically up, a week or two is required to start bowling in full swing. It was during the Indian-South Africa series that he started complaining. There was something wrong, nothing had probably happened but he could sense that there was some thing wrong with his back and later the MRI report confirmed that there was a stress fracture in his rib. Since then, he has been taking it easy and his rehabilitation is on.

Few weeks of preparation and some bowling is required to get him back to rhythm. Also getting used to bowling under pressure is equally important. He is a star performer, an experienced campaigner. He knows his body well. And as I said, he is recovering and will be fine in the next 10 days.

MV: According to you, Nehra will be fit for T20, but without even playing a match, how will you access his match fitness?

ES: It is very disappointing and unfortunate that Ashish Nehra had to sit out for the IPL. But you know, its very important that we don't rush him in from either side. We have the World Cup starting round the corner and the rehab is on. Or else even if the player joins back, he will break down again and may be left out of the tournament completely. So we are looking into Nehra's recovery professionally and carefully.

MV: What's your contribution as the bowling coach?

ES: Lot of people have made comments that I am a foreign coach, from South Africa and what would I be knowing about the Indian setup. But I have told you guys that it is not for me to tell Indian cricketers how to play cricket. If I have this kind of thinking, it would be arrogant of me! The idea is to take the knowledge of what I know and what they are good at and combine both and that's what makes it an exciting process. It's very much the part of the job that I have in terms of bowling tactics, bowling strategy and making use of the net facilities to implement the game plan so that when the bowlers are tested in the match, they are capable of doing what is expected of them!

MV: How do you think IPL will help in preparing the players for T20 World Cup?

ES: By virtue of being the coach of Delhi Daredevils, I have the opportunity to study the international cricketers, the way they bowl and bat. All the detailed inputs that I am gathering now while playing along with them will help me to build strategies against them. The other day it was interesting to see how Shane Warne had contained David Warner with low full tosses and later got his wicket. Such inputs will also help us in T20 World Cup.

MV: Zaheer Khan as a senior, how does he enhance the performance of young bowlers coming into the team and how do you contribute and blend the experience with the inexperience?

ES: Obviously, he is a very important cog of the Indian team, as well as the Mumbai Indians, not only as a bowler but as a senior mate. When the batters are batting, they are supposed to give feedbacks of what lengths are to be bowled, what pace would make a batsman struggle and such inputs are used by the captain and the other bowlers. And Zaheer Khan is a crucial link in that respect. He is a very experienced and talented cricketer and a very important part of Indian setup.

MV:There are reports of Zaheer also not being 100 percent fit?

ES: He is just coming out of a few injuries, recovering from them and regaining complete fitness and strength. We have started seeing him getting to the point of full recovery with Mumbai Indians in the recent weeks and hopefully he peaks with the T20 World Cup.

MV: Vinay Kumar has been very impressive in the domestic season as well as the IPL, your thoughts on him?

ES: Presence of a new player like Vinay Kumar is a good sign for the future. He is a chap who has a good action and good control over the ball. You can build your game plan around him. As a coach its my job to combine Zaher Khan's bowling with some other guy like Kumar (Vinay) whose bowling with a speed of 150km/h and also with so much of control. Its about using and blending four/five/six bowlers and making combinations that can work together. And that's another crucial part for the bowling coach to look into with the captain.

MV: You have a good pace attack in Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra, who can swing the ball both ways.. How do you plan to maximize their utility?

ES: Praveen Kumar certainly is one of the most versatile cricketers. He has very good control of the ball. Very few can swing the ball both ways, most of them can swing the ball either in or out but to swing it both ways under control is a rare skill! And certainly he is one of the most proficient at it. When you have this kind of skill at disposal, one needs to use the bowler at the right time. And that's why its best to use him at the end, when the ball swinging the most and that's when he is utilized upfront. He likes to bowl to left handers, take away the ball from the left handers and obviously swing it back as well. So utilization of Praveen Kumar is definitely going to be tactical move during theT20 World Cup, scheme of things.

MV: Well, death over bowling is a problem, how do you plan to address that as a bowling coach?

ES: You know, its about making sure about the right combinations - whether to go with 4 seam bowlers in particular or spinners. And once that's decided, (it is) crucial to bowl the right areas and go according to the plan that the captain wants. As a coach, my job is see if the bowler is bowling the yorkers or the slower (Ones) as and when the captain wants him to do that and the bowler is able to deliver that. It is important to bowl according to the game plan, even if he is hit or edged by the batsman for a boundary or a sixer. In order to have good death over bowling, its important to control the controllable.

MV: How has your experience been with Harbhajan Singh, one of the most colourful character of Indian dressing room?

ES: Harbhajan is as you see him. He weighs his emotions in his sleeves. He is very passionate about everything he does, play for his country or for his IPL team. He is an asset for any team. It's wonderful to have him around, he is a very funny man and has a brilliant sense of humor. He lifts the guys when they are down. Its always wonderful to have such fighting spirits in the team. The amount of time he has spent playing competitive international cricket and success that has come his way is profound yet the humbleness with which he spend time discussing ideas and tactics is simply brilliant. Like other Indian cricketers Harbhajan too, likes to discuss and come up with ideas. Isn't that simply great!

MV: There has been criticism about Harbhajan, inspite of being one of the strike bowlers, has not been successful enough to rattle the oppositions in recent times - Do you agree.

ES: On the contrary, in the recent times he has bowled brilliantly. As I said earlier, for a bowler to perform well, it boils down to the fact - how confident he is!

For a spinner to bowl when the wicket is flat and one has to flight to the ball, that's where the confidence of a bowler shows in his aggression, while bowling. Harbhajan is a cricketer who is a match winner for India. Little amendment has changed his approach.

As a spinner you are expected to bowl with lot of aggression in terms of the effort that is put into the bowling. Even to spin the ball or flight a ball - that extra bit of aggression is necessary, which to some extent was not there, in Bhajji's bowling. But, you can check him now. He is now more prepared with his strategies, bowling at the wicket, hit the wicket and I think the confidence will only keep growing. Also, the confidence is showing in his fielding as well as batting too. You know that's the 'knock off' effect - if u bowl well, you field well, and if you field well you bat well. Isn't that a great news for us!

MV: Your experience of watching Sachin Tendulkar?

ES: (smilingly) Only been associated with Indian team for a while but to be involved with a team from where a legend like Sachin Tendulkar belongs, is always a dream. And then to be sitting in the same change room and watching that double hundred in ODI was incredible. It was not just the way he scored but the clinical approach he took to reach the milestone was just amazing to watch. So much is talked about the historical landmark that he reached in Gwalior, or about him as the cricketer, that whatever one says about him is never enough. It was a privileged moment of my life and will cherish it forever!

MV: How is Dhoni as a Captain and Gary as a coach?

ES: I think Gary's personality suites the Indian team really well. He has allowed the team to really develop and grow. He has not been prescriptive in the way they must play and the way they must think, rather has allowed them to develop their own personality and at the same time blend and mould. Dhoni's approach only complements his association with Gary. And I think that's probably the reason he (Gary) asked me to take up the responsibility of a bowling coach, as my outlook towards coaching is quite similar to their functioning. I too certainly don't believe in prescribing but suggest! For us there is no ego, it is always about the team and their success. And if the team is successful, we feel good about it and consider our job done. It has never been about personal glories.

MV: Your observations on Ishant and Sreeshanth?

ES: Sreesanth is a completely different character. He is a very emotional person, very exciting and likes to get involved in every aspect of the game whereas Ishant is always very focused on his job. Both of them have different personalities but are very exciting bowlers. They are very talented and I would like to believe that till the time I am involved with these cricketers, you will see improvement in the bowling and they will grow as bowlers.

MV: What according to you should be done to salvage their form?

ES: Its always difficult in the second and third year of international cricket. When one comes in, people really don't know you. They don't know how you play, no video analysis and no idea of what you can and you are not capable of doing! Generally the first year tends to be easy. Also, when you are playing the opposition players tend to read you, the batters and captains tend to judge you more easily. That's when one needs to buck up. Ishant has been playing pressure cricket since his debut in test, one days and T20s. He needs to get away from such pressure matches and concentrate on playing less pressure matches like in the counties.

I think both Sree and Ishant are in that phase of their career where I guess I would have liked to work with them more but I would like to believe that they are working and trying to figure out where things going wrong.

MV: What probably is the reason that Indian fast bowlers lose out on a speed in later years after they have bowled initially?

ES: I am involved with the team for only 7 weeks and to make any comment on such an issue will be very difficult and unfair on my part. I would need to distance myself in order to pin point as to whether its playing too much of cricket or bowling for longer spells. Sometimes, its important to use the cricketers intelligently. South Africa never uses Dale Stayn for longer spells. He never bowls 8 over at a stretch rather he is used for 4 over where he is utilized as strike bowlers. But in India, things are different. We normally go in for three seamers or two seamers and two spinners which means longer spells for the bowlers. I think, that's where my job will be to work through with the Captain, Coach Gary Kiersten and the team and define the role of the cricketers.

MV: Who according to you will the top 4 contenders for the World T20 Cup?

ES: Well, I don't see any reason for not having India in the top 4 spot. A very talented and young bunch of cricketers and we have the potential of beating anybody on the day. Apart from that, to me its South Africa who has a balanced side. Australia as well as they are coming through as a good blend. Another team that is showing real good signs, is England. They are really playing some good cricket and they are one great unit. I saw them very closely in South Africa, when they were playing the test and ODI series. They come across as a very talented and well blended side.

Those four are my favorites but as I said, on its day any team can beat each other in this T20 format.

(This interview was conducted by Artsmith.Sports before Delhi Daredevils travelled to Kolkata to play against the Knight Riders)